16-05-2021-043351Limitless-Jim -Kwik
.pdfproblem allows for a much more workable solution to the surface problem.
Let’s go back to our dinner scenario. The surface problem is that the family rarely eats dinner together because everyone’s schedules are too busy. The underlying problem might be that your schedules are so busy because your spouse feels compelled to work long hours at work, your daughter feels compelled to be an elite athlete, your son feels compelled to get perfect academic scores so he can attend a college with a 3 percent acceptance rate, and you feel compelled to sit on three nonprofit boards. But maybe even that is not the true underlying problem.
Maybe what’s really at issue is that you each feel the pressures you feel not because you personally aspire to these goals but rather because you live in a community that looks down on people who don’t have goals of this sort.
Step 2: Posit a New Approach
One of the keys to exponential thinking is filling your thoughts with what-if statements. Evie Mackie of the Innovation Hub at the John Lewis Partnership says that “‘What If’ statements come into play to bring unruly scenarios into the picture. For example, ‘What if the human race needed to adapt and live in a world which was 90 percent underwater’ or ‘What if we could no longer touch things with our hands to interact.’ This helps conceptualize a WHOLE different array of things we may never have thought of otherwise and allows us to imagine what we would need to survive in a future world, which
could be a very different place.”15
In our example, if you’ve realized the underlying problem is that the prevailing notions in your community have forced you into filling your daily lives with activities that take far too much of your time, you might ask yourselves, “What if we didn’t care what everyone else thought?” Or maybe you’d ask, “What if there were only 18 hours in the day instead of 24?” Or you might even ask, “What if we lived somewhere else?”
Step 3: Read about It
As you already know, I am an extremely strong advocate for reading as much as you possibly can. Reading liberates your brain more than virtually any other activity. Reading is especially important when it comes to exponential thinking. You can’t make huge cognitive leaps if you don’t have a well-rounded view of a subject.
So, now that you’ve gone through the what-if exercise, read up on alternatives. Maybe your spouse reads a number of books about the connection between corporate success and happiness. Maybe your daughter connects with bloggers and influencers on both the odds of becoming an elite athlete and the lives of elite athletes. Maybe your son reads a number of studies that look at graduation from ultracompetitive universities and occupational and emotional success afterward. Maybe you read books about the causes you’re championing via your nonprofits and reconsider how important these causes are to you.
Step 4: Extrapolate
You’ve now identified the underlying problem, posed questions that allow you to imagine a world without the problem, and done your research. Now, it’s time to try out a scenario. Let’s play one out here: You’re convinced that you’ve filled your lives with activities because you need these to maintain your status in your community. You’ve asked the question, “What if we lived somewhere else?” and found that everyone in your family is intrigued by this notion. You’ve done your reading and discovered that you could be happier and more satisfied if your job/sports/school/philanthropic goals were revised and reconceived.
So, what would happen if you moved a hundred miles away, across the country, or even to a different country? You know that doing something this dramatic might not immediately seem like progress. You’ve seen the straight line and the curved line, and you realize that it might even seem you’ve taken a huge step backward because of all the adjustments you’d need to make. But say the four of you play out the scenarios and decide that making a move is the right thing to do. Two years later, the family is thriving —and you have dinner together nearly every night.
BEFORE WE MOVE ON
This is the last of the method chapters, and I’m sure you’re itching to put everything you’ve learned in this book to use. Before we end, I’m going to give you a vision of how this might work for you and a 10day plan to jump-start applying what you’ve learned to your life. But before we get to that, let’s try a few things:
Review Howard Gardner’s eight forms of intelligence starting on HOW ARE YOU SMART?. Which forms on this list align most closely with your own intelligence?
Now that you know what your learning style is, what can you do to incorporate the other styles into your thinking?
Try on all six thinking hats during a test case. Give yourself a relatively simple task, and approach it using Edward de Bono’s method.
RETURN OF THE POSSIBLE
If you’re anything like the overwhelming majority of people in the world, when you started reading this book you were being governed —either consciously, unconsciously, or both—by a suite of limitations you’d either imposed on yourself or others had imposed on you.
Maybe you wanted to learn a new ability, but you were sure that you didn’t have the capacity to do it. Maybe you wanted to throw your hat in the ring for a big work promotion, but your inner voice kept telling you that you really didn’t have the competence for it. Maybe you were convinced that you were always going to leave the house without your phone, or you were never going to remember all the names of the people at your next social gathering, or you were forever going to be the boring guy reading his speech from a piece of paper. If this has ever described you in any way, now that you’ve come to the end of this book, I hope you’re ready to wave good-bye to that person.
Instead, let’s meet the new limitless you.
The limitless you has a limitless mindset. You no longer believe that there are all sorts of things you can’t be, or do. There might be all sorts of things you haven’t done yet, and there might be all sorts of things that you’ve had trouble doing in the past, but the limitless you knows your past doesn’t equal your future. The limitless you understands that your brain is a much more powerful tool than you might have previously imagined and that, by setting your mind to learning whatever you want to learn, you can conquer just about any skill.
The limitless you also has limitless motivation. In the past, maybe you could conceive of a more ambitious life, but you couldn’t actually get yourself to take action. Now, though, you know how to align your habits with your ambitions; you’re capable of making a commitment to lifelong learning and lifelong improvement and it’s as natural to you as getting dressed in the morning.
You also know how to fuel your brain with food and sleep and exercise so that you start your day in the best place, and you’re always ready to take on new and demanding challenges. And you know how to tap into the flow so that, once you start a task, you can dive into it completely. And, perhaps most significantly, the limitless you has unlocked the methods of learning how to learn. By discovering this, you have become exponentially more powerful than you were before. Beyond a few physical limitations, if you can learn it, you can do it. And the tools you now have at your disposal allow you to learn anything faster. When you couple that with the skills you’ve gained in unlimiting your focus, your memory, your thinking, and your reading, you’re in possession of the ultimate superhero toolkit.
A superhero is not just someone who has discovered and developed their superpowers. Every superhero must eventually return to their world and serve. They must bring with them the lessons and wisdom they won through their journey. They must not only integrate their powers into their lives, but they must learn to use their powers to help others. At the end of The Matrix, Neo has won the battle and broken free of limits. In his last phone call to the Matrix, Neo says: “I’m going to hang up this phone, and then I’m going to show these people what you don’t want them to see. I’m going to show them a world without you. A world without rules or controls, borders or boundaries. A world where anything is possible.” He’s returning to the ordinary world, but with a mission to help inspire others, to free their minds.
My hope for you is that you not only take what you’ve learned in this book and make your life better with it, but that you make the lives of those around you better, too. The formula is: Learn. Earn. Return. No hero’s journey is exclusively for the benefit of the hero.
With your newfound knowledge, help those around you to learn better and faster and unlimit themselves.
In the film Lucy, an American student played by Scarlett Johansson develops superhuman powers after the full potential of her brain is unleashed. Professor Norman, played by Morgan Freeman, is a neurologist who helps Lucy cope with the startling changes taking place in her mind and body. When asked by Lucy what to do with her new gifts, Professor Norman replied in Morgan Freeman’s unique voice:
You know . . . If you think about the very nature of life—I mean, in the very beginning, the development of the first cell divided into two cells—the sole purpose of life has been to pass on what was learned. There was no higher purpose. So if you’re asking me what to do with all this knowledge you’re accumulating, I say . . Pass it on.
So, now the question becomes this: What are you going to do with what you’ve learned? Solve a challenging problem at work so you and your colleagues have an impact on your industry, and maybe your world? Start a book club? Make a dent in that huge stack of periodicals on your coffee table, and then teach your children what you’ve just learned? Connect with people in more dynamic ways? Throw a brain-food dinner party? Sign up for the class that is going to open new doors for you? Or maybe sign up to teach a class yourself? Which would you choose?
That’s what a superhero would do. That’s what the limitless you can do.
Throughout this book, you’ve had the opportunity to take some of your new skills out for a spin. In the pages that follow, I’ve laid out a program to get you started. Now is the time to start to use all of what you’ve learned in concert. Start with one thing, but start somewhere. Anywhere. And when you do, I think you’re going to be stunned by what you uncover about yourself. The limitless you is the person you truly are and the person who, over time, will become things you can’t even conceive of now.
Know yourself. Trust yourself. Love yourself. Be yourself.
And remember, the life you live are the lessons you teach. Be limitless.
With love and learning,
Jim
Congratulations on making it to the end of this book. You are one of the few who completes the task at hand. I applaud you.
We’ve covered a lot in this book. My advice is to implement everything you learned. If you’re not sure where to begin, then this 10-day plan is here to help you jump-start your limitless journey.
You can follow this plan I made for you, or you can handpick three top tips you’d like to integrate from each main section: Mindset, Motivation, and Methods. In this way you can focus on the areas where you feel you’re currently lacking and need more support. You can also download this 10-Day Kwik Start program in video format from www.LimitlessBook.com/resources.
Thank you for allowing me to be your brain coach through this book. I look forward to hearing about your progress.
DAY 1: LEARN FASTER
Put this acronym (FASTER) into action on day one:
Forget: The key to laser focus is to remove or forget that which distracts you. There are three things you want to forget (at least temporarily).
1.What you already know
2.What’s not urgent
3.Your limitations
Act: Traditional education has trained many people to think that learning is a passive experience. But learning is not a spectator sport. The human brain does not learn as much by consumption as it does by creation. Knowing that, I want you to ask yourself how you can become more active in your learning. Take notes. Do the exercises in this book.
State: Your state of being is a current snapshot of your emotions. It is highly influenced by your thoughts (psychology) and the physical condition
of your body (physiology). Change your posture or the depth of your breathing. Consciously choose states of joy, fascination, and curiosity.
Teach: If you want to cut your learning curve dramatically, learn with the intention of teaching the information to someone else.
Enter: If it’s not on your calendar, there’s a good chance it’s not getting done. Take out your calendar and enter blocks of time to invest in yourself, even if that’s only 10 or 15 minutes a day.
Review: You are better able to retain information by reviewing multiple spread-out sessions. Get in the habit of reflecting on your day and do a daily review of what you’ve learned.
For more on this, reread the section in Chapter 4.
DAY 2: KILL YOUR ANTS
Identify the voices in your head that are focusing on what you can’t do—those Automatic Negative Thoughts (ANTs). Start talking back to them.
Remember, too, to discount those pesky LIEs: Limiting Ideas Entertained. And consistently check in with your BS, Belief Systems. When you find yourself thinking, I always screw up this sort of thing, counter with, Just because I haven’t always been good at this in the past doesn’t mean that I can’t be great at it now. How can I learn this?
Don’t shrink what’s possible to fit your mind, expand your mind to fit what’s possible. For more on this, reread the section in Chapter 8.
DAY 3: QUESTION YOUR QUESTIONS
Reflect on the power of dominant questions. You likely have one question you’re subconsciously asking yourself throughout the day. Identify this question and think about how you can change it to change your behavior. Knowledge itself is not power, it only has that potential when you apply it. Start asking the questions that will help you get the empowering answers you need throughout the day. For more on this, reread the section in Chapter 4.
DAY 4: IMAGINE WHAT YOU WANT MOST
Take a moment to write down all the disadvantages you will have when you don’t apply what you learned in this book. For example, you could write, “I will have to keep studying hard and settle for the same mediocre results.” “I will continue to doubt myself.” “I won’t be able to show up at my best for my loved ones” or “I won’t get a good job.”